The wicked strut about on every side when vileness is exalted among the sons of men.
That is the price of exalting vileness, the price of promoting corruption and evil. Wickedness is paraded before us, wickedness that knows no bounds - perversion and abuse, kidnapping, rape, murder, genocide - lifestyles of evil promoted and lifted up and left unchecked all in the name of tolerance and political correctness.
Will this be the day that we choose to see, the day that we choose to stand - will this be the moment that we cry out to our God - forgive us Father, for we have sinned; have mercy on us for we have hewn for ourselves broken cisterns that hold no water. Forgive us mighty God for we have turned our back on You and instead pursued lives of ease and wealth and health; forgive us O Lord and come quickly - help Lord for the godly cease to be, for the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.
I want to cry today at what we've seen - but I don't think I have any tears. I keep remembering the girls that were kidnapped by Boko Haram - the Christian pastors and their wives who have lost their lives because they refused to bow to a foreign god. I remember the murder of Christians around this globe down through the centuries and in my time the great persecution of Christians behind the Iron Curtain, in China and North Korea, all over the world except in our neat Western backyards.
How has the magnificent gospel of Jesus Christ become associated with health and wealth and happiness? How has it been preached for so long as the key to an indulgent lifestyle where nothing goes wrong, where your children are all beautiful and safe? Where is the cry for our brothers and sisters around this planet who die daily for the sake of Christ - for the sake of His body, the church to which we claim allegiance.
Oh God, forgive me, forgive us, for our indifference and wake us up to the reality of the world that we live in - the cold, hard reality that we have an enemy who is out to destroy us - with guns or with swords or with prosperity. Oh God open our eyes and our minds to the truth that we must stand firm in these last days - that we must pray unceasingly, that we must know the truth and that we must refuse to compromise it for any reason. Oh God help us, for the godly cease to be - keep us faithful to the end that we might proclaim Your glory.
That is the price of exalting vileness, the price of promoting corruption and evil. Wickedness is paraded before us, wickedness that knows no bounds - perversion and abuse, kidnapping, rape, murder, genocide - lifestyles of evil promoted and lifted up and left unchecked all in the name of tolerance and political correctness.
Will this be the day that we choose to see, the day that we choose to stand - will this be the moment that we cry out to our God - forgive us Father, for we have sinned; have mercy on us for we have hewn for ourselves broken cisterns that hold no water. Forgive us mighty God for we have turned our back on You and instead pursued lives of ease and wealth and health; forgive us O Lord and come quickly - help Lord for the godly cease to be, for the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.
I want to cry today at what we've seen - but I don't think I have any tears. I keep remembering the girls that were kidnapped by Boko Haram - the Christian pastors and their wives who have lost their lives because they refused to bow to a foreign god. I remember the murder of Christians around this globe down through the centuries and in my time the great persecution of Christians behind the Iron Curtain, in China and North Korea, all over the world except in our neat Western backyards.
How has the magnificent gospel of Jesus Christ become associated with health and wealth and happiness? How has it been preached for so long as the key to an indulgent lifestyle where nothing goes wrong, where your children are all beautiful and safe? Where is the cry for our brothers and sisters around this planet who die daily for the sake of Christ - for the sake of His body, the church to which we claim allegiance.
Oh God, forgive me, forgive us, for our indifference and wake us up to the reality of the world that we live in - the cold, hard reality that we have an enemy who is out to destroy us - with guns or with swords or with prosperity. Oh God open our eyes and our minds to the truth that we must stand firm in these last days - that we must pray unceasingly, that we must know the truth and that we must refuse to compromise it for any reason. Oh God help us, for the godly cease to be - keep us faithful to the end that we might proclaim Your glory.
